I had both hips resurfaced in India, I have pain in right hip after five months

[baxter]

Hi, I had both my hips resurfaced in Coimbatore, India Sept. 2007. It has been six months since my
surgery, my left is doing very well, my right hip is painful when I walk. I had blood work ane x-rays
done to rule out infection and failed surgery. I saw one Orthaepedic Dr. who wanted to replace my
my hip. I got a second opinion who disagreed with the first diagnosis. It has been a challenge to
stay positive in the process of healing.
  I don't understand why I would start having pain in last two weeks. I took two longish walks on the
beach with my dog, after the second walk, I had lots of pain in my right hip only. I am using my cane
again to avoid further stress on the hip.
  I have read a few helpful emails in "hip talk", and I hope to make contact with others who could
shed some light on my situation.  I would be happy to share more about my journey with hip resurfacing
with anyone who is interested.
 
Blessings,  Gary     
   

[Pat Walter]

Hi Gary

Welcome to Hip Talk.

I am sorry to hear you are having some pain in you right hip.  Maybe it is a muscle issule. Perhaps your long walk just upset something in your hip.  Some people seem to have problems with their muscles for months or even years. 

I am not medically trained and don't know all the muscles like some of the people do.  I would take it easy on the hip for a while and see how things go. 

Do you have your x-rays?  You could think about sending them to Dr. Bose in India. He would do a free consultation looking at them and telling you how the cup and hip placement look?

What kind of hip did you get?  BHR?  ASR?  Who did your Surgery?

Some people have had problems with the placement of the cup in the acetabulum - Dr. De Smet says if it is not placed just right - it can continue to cause groin pain and problems. 

I certainly would not let a doctor talk me into a THR revision until I talked with some really experienced surgeons - ones like De Smet, Bose, Clarke, McMinn etc.  Where do you live?

I have a list of the really expreienced surgeons on the website - you might want to take a look at it.  Working with a normal local Orthopedic will not usually give you good results when you have a hip resurfacing.

I am also always happy to post anyones story on the website if you want to send it to me    pwalter@surfacehippy.info   

Keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

Pat

[baxter]

Hi Pat, thank you for responding to my message.
  I had my surgery done by Dr. Balasubramanian at Sri Ramakrishna, Coimbatore, India. It would have been
helpful if I had known about your web site, it would have given me so much more information than I
had at the time. Part of my decision was made on the cost of surgery, and of course the Dr's experience with hip resurfacing.
  My concern began with hip pain and nights sweats. I had blood work and x-rays done the first of Feburary. I met with an Orthopedic here in Santa Barbara, Calif. His comments were that I had some
kind of infection and that my right hip was not done correctly. I went for a second opinion with another
Orthopedic, his comments were that the first Dr. was completely inappropreate. He found nothing wrong with my hip resurfacing and didn't believe that I had an infection. I am having follow up with the lab at the local hospital. I will know the results within the next week. It has been a stressful time for me
in the last two months.
  I appreciate the information concerning the placement of the cup in the acetabulum. Hopefully this
is not the source of my pain. The location of my discomfort is on the side of my right leg and in the front.
I do hope is simply a muscle issue.
  If it turned out that I needed further surgery, I would perfer to return to India. I would consider another
Doctor, such as Dr. Bose. Once again is would be a matter of the cost of surgery. It's my goal to do
 whatever is nessessary to allow my right hip to heal. I have received encouragement from
reading the stories of others healing process. 
  You mentioned posting my story on the web site. Are you talking about sharing my total experience
with hip resurfacing in India?
  The type of hip replacement used by Dr. Bala is the BHR.

 Thank you for having this web site, it has already been very helpful to me. You are the fist person
that I have communicated with, who has had hip resurfacing.

  Grateful,  Gary     
     
       

[Pat Walter]

Hi Gary

If you had several other othos look at your x-rays and they don't think it is an infection or hip device problem - then it could be a muscle problem.  Many people have problems for a long time until they get their muscles back into shape.

Dr. Bose would give you a free consultation if you wrote to him and attached your x-rays in a digital format or .jpg attachment.  He is very good about that.

I do have a whole section of Dr. Bala stories  http://www.surfacehippy.info/hipstories.php#Dr._BALASUBRAMANIAN__    If you want to write a story, long or short, I will be happy to post it for you.

Again, I am sorry to hear about your problem.  Some of the people on the Yahoo Surface Hippy Group of 7000+ people are more knowledgeable about muscle problems.  You might want to post over there too      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/surfacehippy/


Please stay in touch.  If I can help with any other info, I will be glad to.  I hope your hip will improve with time.

Pat

[baxter]

Hi Pat, Thank you so much for all your helpful information and advice.
  I will send my x-rays to Dr. Bose in India. I am so impressed with how Doctor's in India
are so helpful. My 2nd opinion from an Ortho here in the states, cost me $200. dollars. And
he didn't even look at my incision for possible swelling etc. If I needed further surgery on my
right hip, I would return to India. I would consider another Doctor in India for a 2nd surgery.
I hope it doesn't come to that.
  On my second resurfacing, Dr. Bala told me that it took two men to dislocate my right hip.
I was very swollen due to the challenge to dislocate my hip. This may have contributed to
my pain today, I really don't know. I assumed that my muscle's would have healed after six
months.
  I will keep you informed on my progress. Thank you again for your help.

  Gary

[Pat Walter]

Gary

I do know that there have been some people with muscle problems that took a year or two to resolve.  Some people that had serious problems previous to the surgery have never gotten completely rid of the muscle problems.

Since it was so difficult to dislocate your leg, it just might be a muscle problem. Again, I am not medically trained but have read thousands of messages over on the Yahoo discussion board.  I do know some people have very difficult problems with their muscles. Did you happen to see my page about groin pain problems   http://www.surfacehippy.info/groinpain.php   It has some suggestions and lets you know you are not alone.

Pat